# Orchid vs ZeroClaw

> ZeroClaw scores 70.2 (BB) to Orchid's 20.2 (F) for assistants reached by message. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orchid-ai-vs-zeroclaw
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orchid-ai-vs-zeroclaw.md (~3,450 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orchid-ai-vs-zeroclaw.min.md (~630 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orchid-ai-vs-zeroclaw.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-13

ZeroClaw scores 70.2 (BB) on agent readiness against Orchid's 20.2 (F), and leads in every scored category. Both do assistants reached by message.

- Orchid: grade F, 20.2/100, rank #992 of 1010. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/orchid-ai.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/orchid-ai.json
- ZeroClaw: grade BB, 70.2/100, rank #161 of 1010. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/zeroclaw.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/zeroclaw.json
- Best AI personal assistants that act for one person: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/personal-assistants/index.md
- All 834 assistants comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/personal-assistants/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Orchid (F)

Good for: A founder or operator who wants Gmail and calendar triage by text with approval before anything leaves.

Also in its favour:
- No incidents deducted, where ZeroClaw loses 3 points for them

Watch for: No API, MCP server or A2A endpoint for an outside agent.

### ZeroClaw (BB)

Good for: One person who wants an assistant on their own hardware that answers on Telegram, Discord, Matrix or email, asks before it writes or runs commands, and works with a local model.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 74 against 50
- Schema & documentation, 82 against 10
- Agent ergonomics, 72 against 0
- Security & auth, 76 against 0
- Payments & pricing, 60 against 10
- Maintenance & community, 80 against 24

Also in its favour:
- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better
- No key needed to call it
- Free to start without a card
- Open source

Watch for: The docs state that command execution is not audited. `[security.audit]` records certificate events only, and tool receipts are opt-in and not durable


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Orchid | ZeroClaw | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 50 | 74 | ZeroClaw +24 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 10 | 82 | ZeroClaw +72 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 0 | 72 | ZeroClaw +72 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 0 | 76 | ZeroClaw +76 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 10 | 60 | ZeroClaw +50 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 24 | 80 | ZeroClaw +56 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 60 | 64 | ZeroClaw +4 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -3 | |
| **Total** | | **20.2 · F** | **70.2 · BB** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Orchid | ZeroClaw |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Platform | Agent harness |
| Vendor | Zero Email, Inc. | ZeroClaw Labs |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports |  |  |
| Auth | OAuth or key | None |
| Pricing | Paid | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Closed service under Orchid's Terms of Service (Zero Email, Inc., last updated 16 January 2026). | MIT OR Apache-2.0 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | yes |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | none | 2026-09-05 |
| Terms last updated |  | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated |  | no document linked |
| Customer content may train models |  |  |
| Terms restrict automated access |  |  |
| Terms restrict benchmarking |  |  |
| Terms or service can change without notice |  |  |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver |  |  |
| Popularity | none | 33k stars |

## Verdicts

**Orchid.** Orchid is a paid executive assistant over iMessage, SMS and Telegram that holds drafts and calendar holds until the owner approves, with a public status page and a named subprocessor list. No outside agent can call it, there's no free tier, and its privacy policy allows training a personal model while its blog says it never trains.

**ZeroClaw.** Supervised autonomy is the default, so tools outside a short read-only list wait for the owner's approval, and secrets are encrypted in the config file. The docs state that command execution is not written to an audit log, and the project publishes no privacy policy or terms.

## Before you call either

### Orchid

1. Don't plan to call Orchid from another agent. It answers only the owner's iMessage, SMS and Telegram threads.
2. Check status.orchid.ai before telling the owner Orchid is down. The 7 August incident moved it to a new number.
3. Tell the owner that drafts and holds wait for their approval unless they widen it.

### ZeroClaw

1. Keep `[risk_profiles.<alias>] level = "supervised"`. `full` runs every tool not listed in `always_ask`, and the YOLO preset removes the sandbox and path rules too
2. Add sending and account tools such as `send_via`, `google_workspace` and `http_request` to `always_ask` so a session-level Always grant cannot skip the prompt
3. List senders in `[peer_groups.<name>] external_peers`. `["*"]` accepts anyone on that channel
4. Set `[web_fetch].allowed_domains` and `[http_request].allowed_domains`. Fetches run unprompted and the OS sandbox does not block egress
5. Run one-shot tasks with `zeroclaw agent -a <alias> -m "<task>"`. A cron or webhook turn has no prompt, so shell calls fall to the command policy

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Orchid or ZeroClaw?

ZeroClaw scores 70.2 (BB) on agent readiness against Orchid's 20.2 (F), and leads in every scored category.

### Are Orchid and ZeroClaw open source?

No open-source release is listed for Orchid. ZeroClaw is open source (MIT OR Apache-2.0).


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orchid-ai-vs-zeroclaw.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orchid-ai-vs-zeroclaw.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "orchid-ai", "b": "zeroclaw"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare orchid-ai zeroclaw`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/orchid-ai.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/zeroclaw.json

## Other comparisons with Orchid or ZeroClaw

- [asaply vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/asaply-vs-orchid-ai.md)
- [asaply vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/asaply-vs-zeroclaw.md)
- [Asmi vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/asmi-vs-orchid-ai.md)
- [Asmi vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/asmi-vs-zeroclaw.md)
- [AstrBot vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-orchid-ai.md)
- [Boba vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boba-vs-orchid-ai.md)
- [Boba vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boba-vs-zeroclaw.md)
- [Boski vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boski-vs-orchid-ai.md)
- [Brea vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brea-vs-orchid-ai.md)
- [Brea vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brea-vs-zeroclaw.md)
- [Caddy vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/caddy-app-vs-orchid-ai.md)
- [CowAgent vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-orchid-ai.md)
- [Del vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/del-vs-orchid-ai.md)
- [Del vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/del-vs-zeroclaw.md)
- [folk vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/folk-nozomio-vs-orchid-ai.md)
- [GAIA vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-orchid-ai.md)
- [Grok Bot vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grok-bot-vs-orchid-ai.md)
- [Haven vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/haven-vs-orchid-ai.md)
- [Hermes Agent vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-orchid-ai.md)
- [HireAlpha vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hirealpha-vs-orchid-ai.md)
- [HireAlpha vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hirealpha-vs-zeroclaw.md)
- [Instinct vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-orchid-ai.md)
- [IronClaw vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-orchid-ai.md)
- [Lindy vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lindy-vs-orchid-ai.md)
- [nanobot vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanobot-vs-orchid-ai.md)
- [NanoClaw vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanoclaw-vs-orchid-ai.md)
- [Dots vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-dots-vs-orchid-ai.md)
- [OpenClaw vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openclaw-vs-orchid-ai.md)
- [OpenInstinct vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openinstinct-vs-orchid-ai.md)
- [OpenInstinct vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openinstinct-vs-zeroclaw.md)
- [Orbits vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orbits-vs-orchid-ai.md)
- [Orbits vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orbits-vs-zeroclaw.md)
- [Orchid vs Pally](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orchid-ai-vs-pally.md)
- [Orchid vs PicoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orchid-ai-vs-picoclaw.md)
- [Orchid vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orchid-ai-vs-poke.md)
- [Orchid vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orchid-ai-vs-qwenpaw.md)
- [Orchid vs szn](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orchid-ai-vs-szn.md)
- [Orchid vs Tab](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orchid-ai-vs-tab-bot.md)
- [Orchid vs Tomo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orchid-ai-vs-tomo.md)
- [Orchid vs Town](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orchid-ai-vs-town.md)
- [Orchid vs Zapia](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orchid-ai-vs-zapia.md)
- [Orchid vs Zo Computer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orchid-ai-vs-zo-computer.md)
- [szn vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/szn-vs-zeroclaw.md)
- [Tab vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/tab-bot-vs-zeroclaw.md)
- [Zapia vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/zapia-vs-zeroclaw.md)
- [AstrBot vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-zeroclaw.md)
- [Boski vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boski-vs-zeroclaw.md)
- [Caddy vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/caddy-app-vs-zeroclaw.md)
- [CowAgent vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-zeroclaw.md)
- [folk vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/folk-nozomio-vs-zeroclaw.md)
- [GAIA vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-zeroclaw.md)
- [Gemini Spark vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-spark-vs-zeroclaw.md)
- [Grok Bot vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grok-bot-vs-zeroclaw.md)
- [Haven vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/haven-vs-zeroclaw.md)
- [Hermes Agent vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-zeroclaw.md)
- [Instinct vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-zeroclaw.md)
- [IronClaw vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-zeroclaw.md)
- [Leon vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/leon-vs-zeroclaw.md)
- [Lindy vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lindy-vs-zeroclaw.md)
- [nanobot vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanobot-vs-zeroclaw.md)
- [NanoClaw vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanoclaw-vs-zeroclaw.md)
- [Dots vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-dots-vs-zeroclaw.md)
- [OpenClaw vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openclaw-vs-zeroclaw.md)
- [PicoClaw vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/picoclaw-vs-zeroclaw.md)
- [Poke vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/poke-vs-zeroclaw.md)
- [QwenPaw vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/qwenpaw-vs-zeroclaw.md)
- [Town vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/town-vs-zeroclaw.md)
- [ZeroClaw vs Zo Computer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/zeroclaw-vs-zo-computer.md)
- [Gemini Spark vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-spark-vs-orchid-ai.md)
- [Leon vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/leon-vs-orchid-ai.md)
- [Natura tinyNature vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/natura-vs-orchid-ai.md)
- [Natura tinyNature vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/natura-vs-zeroclaw.md)
- [Orchid vs Wajo (Fo)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orchid-ai-vs-wajo.md)
- [Pally vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pally-vs-zeroclaw.md)
- [Tomo vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/tomo-vs-zeroclaw.md)
- [Wajo (Fo) vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/wajo-vs-zeroclaw.md)
- [Orchid vs Talorys](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orchid-ai-vs-talorys.md)
- [Talorys vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/talorys-vs-zeroclaw.md)

## Disclosure

- Orchid competes with LocalGhost, which Anchor Terminal's founder builds. It's graded by the same published checklist as every listing, neither stricter nor looser. Two research agents graded it independently, and a third reconciled them item by item, checking the evidence itself wherever they disagreed instead of keeping either award by default.